Pilot
This is the first episode of Modern Family and was aired on September 23rd 2009. It was written by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd. Plot The episode begins at the home of Phil and Claire Dunphy and their three children Haley, Alex and Luke. Claire and Phil shout up the stairs to the children. When Haley emerges, Claire tells her that her skirt is too short but Phil allows her to wear it. In side interviews, Phil calls himself a "cool dad" while Claire says that if she can prevent her children from making the same mistakes she did when she was growing up, she has "done our job". Alex comes downstairs to complain Luke has shot her with the toy gun Phil bought him. Claire forces Phil to follow through on his deal with Luke: if Luke shoots someone, Phil will shoot him. Gloria Delgado-Pritchett and her husband, Jay, are watching Gloria's son Manny play soccer. Gloria is overenthusiastic, shouting encouragement to her son and arguing with another parent. Gloria and Jay are then interviewed, where Gloria discusses the differences between their backgrounds: she comes from a small village in Colombia which is "number one for murders", while he comes from the city and owns a big business. Back on the pitch, Manny misses a goal when he spots a beautiful sixteen-year old girl riding by on a bicycle. Gloria speaks to the father of one of the other players, who assumes that Jay is her dad. The scene shifts to Mitchell and Cameron, a gay couple, who are on a plane returning from Vietnam having adopted a baby, Lily. The other passengers admire Lily, with one man commenting, "You and your wife must be thrilled". When Cameron walks onboard and sits down beside Mitchell, an uneasy silence develops. In an interview the characters say that they have been together for five years. Back on the plane, Mitchell threatens to make a speech and does so when a woman says "look at that baby with those cream puffs", which he believes is a reference to he and Cameron. In fact, she is referring to the cream puffs Lily is eating. Cameron apologizes by offering to pay for headsets for all the passengers. Back at the Dunphy residence, Haley has invited Dylan, a senior boy from her high school, over. Claire instructs Phil to "scare him", but Phil hurts his back in the process and Dylan is forced to carry Phil to the couch. Haley brings her boyfriend upstairs while Alex helps Claire cook, however Alex's constant jokes and comments about how "awesome" it would be to see Haley pregnant cause Claire to rush upstairs and break the two up. Haley goes downstairs to complain to Phil, who is preparing to shoot Luke. Phil accidentally shoots Luke, Dylan, and then himself. After the soccer game, Jay is mistaken for a mall walker so he decides to buy some 'hip' new clothes. Meanwhile, Manny reads a poem for the sixteen-year old and is crushed when she says she has a boyfriend. The last scene is at Mitchell and Cameron's house where Lily is going to be introduced to the rest of the family. Before Lily is introduced, Jay, who is uncomfortable having a gay son, says that Mitchell and Cameron shouldn't adopt and, if they're bored, should get a dog. Cameron enters, holding Lily aloft before the family while "Circle of Life" from The Lion King plays. The entire family, including Jay, fawns over her. Cast & Crew Main Cast *Ty Burrell - Phil Dunphy *Julie Bowen - Claire Dunphy *Sarah Hyland - Haley Dunphy *Nolan Gould - Luke Dunphy *Ariel Winter - Alex Dunphy *Ed O'Neill - Jay Pritchett *Sofía Vergara - Gloria Pritchett *Rico Rodriguez II - Manny Delgado *Eric Stonestreet - Cameron Tucker *Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Mitchell Pritchett *Ella & Jaden Hiller - Lily Pritchett-Tucker Supporting Cast *Reid Ewing - Dylan *Matt Corboy - Josh [Marcus Brown - Security Guard *Jenica Bergere - Soccer Mom *Lillian Adams - Passenger #1 *Duane R. Shepard Sr. - Passenger #2 *Heather Lee - Passenger #3 Crew Directed By: Jason Winer Written By: Steven Levitan Christopher Lloyd Produced By: Paul Corrigan .... co-executive producer Joe Lawson .... consulting producer Steven Levitan .... executive producer Christopher Lloyd .... executive producer Jeffrey Morton .... producer (as Jeff Morton) Dan O'Shannon .... co-executive producer Chris Smirnoff .... associate producer Brad Walsh .... co-executive producer Jason Winer .... co-executive producer Bill Wrubel .... co-executive producer Danny Zuker .... co-executive producer Production While working in the office Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan were inspired for the show by telling stories about their family and they thought that could be a show idea and started working around the idea of a family being observed in a mockumentary style show. They then later decided it would be a show about three families and their experiences. [5] Originally called My American Family, the camera crew would be run by a Dutch filmmaker named Geert Floorjte who had lived with Jay's family as a teenage exchange student and developed a crush on Claire (while Mitchell had a crush on him), but the staff decided against it.[6][7] The creators pitched it to the four major networks except for Fox with CBS not ready for a big commitment, NBC already having two mokumentaries, The Office and Parks and Recreation, and ABC like CBS not ready for a commitment especially since they never had a single-camera show before, but eventually they picked it up.[8] The series was given a full season pickup on October 8, 2009.[9][10] On January 12, 2010, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPhersonannounced that Modern Family had been renewed for a second season Casting for Modern Family was very difficult for the final cast (except for Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to be cast. Initially Ed O'Neill had lost the part to Craig T. Nelson (who would later go on to play Zeek Braverman on Parenthood on NBC.) although eventually he was eventually cast. Eric Stonestreet who was unknown at the time has to fight for the role of Cameron more. It was also difficult for Julie Bowen as she was pregnant with twins during filming while Ty Burrell had to test for the role of Phil Dunphy three times. Initially Jesse Tyler Ferguson had auditioned for the role of Cameron before he, Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan thought he would be better suited for the role Mitchell. The episode was filmed in Los Angeles in the United States and is set in a nameless suburban neighborhood.[2] It was written and produced by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, who had worked together on Frasier. When Julie Bowen, who plays Claire Dunphy, read the script, she "desperately wanted to do it" but was pregnant with twins.[13] Bowen "auditioned, begged and pleaded", eventually convincing the show makers to film around her stomach.[13] In the pilot, shot when Bowen was 8½ months pregnant,[14] Bowen hides her stomach with laundry.[15] When Phil was dancing to the High School Musical song the was very difficult to not laugh to with everyone laughing when the director said cut. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1